August 26, 2008

David Ching will be moving to Athens to become the Sports Editor of the Athens Banner-Herald. Ching was formerly the UGA beat writer for the Columbus-Ledger before briefly moving to the Auburn beat at the paper.

It's a big opportunity for David, and it brings another talented writer back into the Bulldog picture. I touched base with David about the move. He says he's "extremely excited about the opportunity and looking forward to finally living in Athens full-time."

He starts to work with the Banner-Herald on Friday. As sports editor, he won't be writing as often as he did during his beat writer days in Columbus. However, he'll still have commentary and articles of some variety. More on that later from David after he gets settled in at his new gig.

With living in your mother's basement do you use the house mailing address or have you procured a PO Box? I realize that between the countless hours spent spamming sports blogs and venturing into cyber chat rooms you likely have very little time to check the mail. In the event you do I would like your address so that come Nov. 17 I can mail you some humble pie.

On topic, I'm glad to see Ching in Athens covering a team(s) more worthy of his talent.

Does anyone know of a bar or restaurant in downtown Athens that will be televising the game? Last time we were on PPV, I was told that the bars downtown didn’t carry PPV games, but that was four or five years ago. I still may be able to get tix, but I won’t know until gameday and I want to have a backup plan just in case.

You all must be crazy. Ching is the only beat/blog writer to actually develop a rapport with the team and support staff. All I ever get from Hale is stuff I've read from the AJC/any other news outlet covering UGA football, aka he recycles news.

It says a lot about a guy when the ABH hires him to be not only a beat writer but also The Sports Editor! The ABH has currently the best crew of writers covering UGA football, period. For them to not only offer but elevate Ching at their paper says a whole hellavu lot about the guy...AKA Ching>>>>Hale + Everyone Else, by a lot!

The Best UGA Beat Writer has been for years, Mr. Josh Kendall. He went the route of leaving Athens-Banner-Herald and they have never been as good. He went to Macon.com where for years, he had only knowledgeable fans click to read his infrequent articles, while Josh Kendall sold himself to Rivals.com for pay per view clicks in addition. Now's he's left Macon.com. Where does this leave us ?

David Ching has written some articles which I take total exception to. In fact, frequently, he has.

Even more than Chipper Towers has written writing recently, for example, that "Dannell Ellerbe is NOT a star, but just ok" that "there are more BUSTS than Stars on the nation's Number 1 football team who ended last season Number 2 in the Final AP Poll.

The good news about all the changes in UGA Beat Writer this season, is that the national press writes great articles about UGA for us to gain perspective.

The bad news is, there really isn't a decent UGA Beat Writer for any newspaper where a third of a million alumni and all the rest of the Bulldog nation can go to get the news with proper perspective.

David Ching is not it. If the Athens-Banner Herald wanted to get a Josh Kendall back, they should have paid Josh Kendall to come back.

Cheap shots (aka fat loser getting back at the athletes that have made fun of him his whole life) aside, Ching is better than anyone else at getting the inside scoop. All the others mentioned are second rate.

Anon, I asked for specific examples because I need to see what other people find offensive and why, so I can properly evaluate the position. I don't see anything - I've consistently found Ching's coverage to be of a high quality, and very professional. When the Ledger moved him over to cover Auburn, UGA lost a good one in my opinion but it was a gain for the Plainspersons.

I'm happy to see him coming back into the fold (so to speak). He always struck me as someone who liked covering UGA in my limited interactions with him. Good for the ABH.

I have not once read anything from D. Ching that could be even remotely construed as taking a shot at UGA. Guys, beat writers are not paid to be University publicist or program apologist -- they are not, nor should they be out present a "positive spin." Conversely, they should not be overly cynical, out to get athletes, coaches, etc., They are paid to gather information, present facts and interesting angles, considerations, etc., in an objective manner -- nothing more than that. If you want all positive information or UGA cheerleading, go to the Athletic department website or subscribe to their publications.